I planned a brilliant road trip; it was all mapped out, places of note to stop at if there was time, places to stay and eat all sorted. There was going to be plenty to see and do and then after a series of unfortunate, last minute events, the plan went out of the window entirely and a new road trip was drawn up rather hurriedly, while on the road! But you know what, managing to see two UNESCO sites in two days and then tick somewhere else off my bucket

I do love a good afternoon tea, everything about it just demands some time out to properly sit back, enjoy and relax. There have been a few occasions where I've slightly overindulged on the clotted cream I have to admit. I was invited to try the new vegan afternoon tea available at Careys Manor Hotel; I was really looking forward to trying it and was really curious to see the desserts most of all!
Careys Manor is just outside Brockenhurst in

Those funny few days between Christmas and New Year are the perfect time for a bit of reflection. I like to look back at everything I've been up to and where I've been, what (if anything!) I've learned and achieved in the last year and, most importantly, what I've been eating! So this post contains my absolute favourite recipes from this year and some of the best places I have visited.
Beer, Mustard and Onion Macaroni Cheese
To cook up this take

A night away is a real treat; one where you have gone far enough that you’re away from home but not so far that you get bored of driving. The New Forest is much closer to me than I had previously realised (how I’ve not recognised this before is quite astounding) and a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of day to day life so I was really looking forward to a stay at Burley Manor.
Based in Burley, in the New Forest, Burley Manor

First and foremost I must start by telling you that all the food in Gothenburg is really rather good. My top tip is to make sure you eat out with as many people as possible so you can nick food off their plate to try everything. Luckily we were travelling in a pack of four (the OH, his sister and her husband, and me of course). We ate out for almost every meal and whether you are in a coffee shop with some excellent kanelbullar, an Italian deli (Fratelli

I thought I knew my local area pretty well, thought I’d trodden all its paths and roads and could take you to all the best places. Turns out I was wrong as a spontaneous left turn took me to all sorts of corners of Hampshire that I didn’t even know were there. We were planning on doing a bit of local exploring but hadn’t set our expectations too high as we were so convinced we'd already seen it all; we were amazed at all the new places we

When I hear a town name that ends in ‘on-Sea’ I can’t help but think it’ll be a place full of fish a chip shops, candyfloss and rock, stripy deck chairs and 99s with a flake. It conjures up images of 1950’s his and hers matching striped bathing suits, an afternoon watching Punch and Judy and a cream tea or two. If you can’t tell already I’m a big fan of a British seaside town, there’s something about them you don’t find anywhere

We’ve all done it. Looked through various travel magazines and wondered why all these amazing places are so far away, took one look out of the window and decided that our own surroundings are rubbish. Just me? I decided that I want to explore more of what’s on my doorstep; to visit more of my own backyard as it were. One way of doing this, and certainly the way I have decided to go about it, is to visit all the UNESCO World Heritage sites in the

So you’ve booked your flights and hotel to the Big Apple and it’s a little while until you go, plenty of time to plan. You start looking online for ideas and inspiration for where to go and what to see; it’s all a bit overwhelming and you tell yourself you’ll come back to it. You buy a guidebook, thicker than you thought, and start trying to narrow down what to do. Again, it’s so full of ideas you don’t know whether to start at the back

Maybe it’s just me but whenever I go somewhere for a day, perhaps a wander round an estate, to the beach or for a tree climbing, rope swinging experience I always expect much more from the on-site café than it delivers. I never learn and take my own food though, I just wash the cardboard sandwich down with terrible coffee and have done with it. However, don’t despair and think all is lost because I have good news. There is a café which could